Novice needs help with upgrading camcorder.

I have about 10 years worth on 8mm and Hi8 tapes that I wish to convert to digital and then eventually burn to a DVD. Right now I need to purchase and new camcorder asap. I have pretty much decided on the Sony HC-42 but my one question is can I convert my old Hi8 tapes to digital with the HC-42 even though it is not an 8mm camcorder?

Thanks for your reply. I do not want to buy another Hi8 Camcorder (the one I have works just needs a new battery). I want to change to miniDV format and want to know if I can copy the tapes from my old analog Hi8 to a digital camcorder such as Sony's HC-42 and then at a later point download these tapes to my computer and burn to a DVD?

If your Hi8 camcorder is still working, why transcribe them at all. Sounds like a lot of work for no benefit. If you're concerned about archival storage, then DVD's are theoretically more reliable. You can buy a standalone DVD recorder, plug your old camcorder into it, and digitize the video straight to DVD.